Live
by The Lonely Geek
Summary: After the thirteen's sacrifice, Asterin was finally reunited with the Hunter and her daughter.


_**I finally read Kingdom of Ash and I was so traumatised by the death of the thirteen, that I just had to do this little fic. I hope you enjoy, and please let me know what you think :)**_

 _ **~The Lonely Geek**_

 _ **Live**_

"What happened?" Asterin murmured, looking around. The last thing she remembered was punching Manon in the guts and telling her to live. She was surrounded by light until a figure approached her. It took a moment for Asterin to recognise her. Rhiannon.

"You're in a better place now," She told her. "And thank you, for protecting Manon." Asterin became more alert at her friend's name.

"She's alive?" She asked. "She lived?" Rhiannon nodded.

"Yes," She confirmed. "You saved her. Now the curse may finally be broken."

"Where am I now though?" Asterin asked, looking around, but all she could see was bright light.

"In a better place," Rhiannon explained simply. "Come, your hunter is waiting for you with your child."

"Draco is here?" Asterin asked sharply, her heart beating faster at the thought of seeing him again. "And my baby?" Rhiannon nodded.

"They've been waiting for you." She replied.

"They waited for me?" Asterin asked, her legs feeling weak. "Draco and my baby?"

"Yes," Rhiannon smiled. "And I think it's time they were rewarded for their patience." She led Asterin through the light to where there was a figure was cradling a baby. He looked up as they approached and smiled at them. He didn't look like he had when Asterin had last seen him though, death had returned his youthful look and he looked as old as he had the day he had met Asterin.

"Draco?" She whispered and he nodded smiling, holding out their baby to her. A tear slipped down her face as she was finally able to do what she had been denied all those years ago: hold her baby. Only it was no longer stillborn. She smiled down at it as it gazed up at her.

"Will she never grow old?" She asked Rhiannon before Draco and her kissed, their lips brushing gently against each other.

"She will," Rhiannon told her. "Now her mother has joined her."

"I've been looking after her since I got here," Draco told her.

"I'm sorry I never returned," Asterin said. "I wanted to but-" Draco interrupted.

"I know," He replied. "I never stopped loving you. Not even death could do us part. I watched over you. Every day, I'd sit and cradle our baby watching you."

"What did you name her?" Asterin asked.

"I didn't – couldn't," Draco told her. "That right belongs with you. I couldn't take that right away, not when you never even get chance to hold her."

"We can watch her grow up together," Asterin smiled at him.

"There is another way," Rhiannon said, still standing by the happy couple.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"Manon Blackbeak and Dorian Havilliard will have a child, it won't be conceived until after the war," Rhiannon explained. "And your daughter was never given a chance to live. So if you wished, it is possible for us to give her the opportunity she was so cruelly denied last time. Manon Blackbeak's first child will be a stillborn, however there is a way to prevent that."

"With my daughter?" Asterin asked. Rhiannon nodded.

"She would still be your daughter, but at the same time she would be Manon and Dorian's," She explained.

"And our daughter would be able to live?" Draco asked. Rhiannon nodded. "What do you think?" He asked Asterin, who was staring down at her daughter.

"I think I never want to let her go," Asterin told her. "But she deserves a life. If you want to do it?" Draco nodded.

"We can wait for her together," He told her and she nodded.

"A stillborn would kill Manon inside. She pretends to be tough and not to care, but she's broken. The sacrifice of the thirteen won't have helped," Asterin told him. "She wanted to die with us, but I wouldn't let her and she's going to hate me for that. Not as much as she's going to hate herself for letting us die without her, but this is my gift to her. Maybe it can help her heal."

"And maybe watching her grow up, living, will heal you too," Draco added. Asterin smiled and leaned down to kiss her daughter's forehead.

"Live," She whispered.

 _ **2 years later**_

"We have a girl," Manon smiled to Dorian, holding the small baby in her arms.

"She's beautiful," Dorian whispered, kissing Manon on the forehead. "What are we going to call her?" He asked.

"There was only one name that seemed fitting," She told him.

"Oh yeah?"

"Asterin Sorscha Havilliard," Manon smiled.

"Not Blackbeak?" Dorian asked, sounding slightly surprised.

"It reminded me of my grandmother and I don't want to bring her up like I was," Manon explained.

"It's perfect," Dorian told her. "Just like you."

Asterin and Draco watched down on the scene, smiling as their daughter was finally given the life she had been denied for so long.


End file.
